The Queen of Hills is all set to witness its first ever industrial meet next month, to be attended by top industrialists of the country and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The meet, the venue for which is, however, yet to be identified, is being jointly organized by the state government and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

The names of industrialists to be present have also not been finalized. Addressing a press conference at Lal Kothi here on Wednesday, the chairman of the GTA Board of Administrators, Binoy Tamang, said, “This is the first time that popular businessmen and industrialists will be coming for the Industrialist meet that will be held here on 13-14 March, which the Bengal chief minister will inaugurate.

She will also be part of the closing ceremony the next day. We want to thank her for this effort.” As Mr Tamang tried to organize such a meeting for the Hills, Miss Banerjee had given assurances during her last three-day visit which started here on 6 February.

“The inaugural ceremony will take place around 2 pm, after which a round table conference will be held between representatives of the GTA, the state government and the industrialists. On the second day, the meeting will start around 11 am and end at three in the afternoon.

“Through this meeting, we want to show industrialists the kind of industries that can be viable here. There are so many things that can be done here- -tourism, fruit, food, education, floriculture, medicinal plants, among other things. We want to instill in the industrialists a sense of confidence that there will be no disturbances in the Hills from now on,” Mr Tamang said.

He added that state finance minister Amit Mitra would also be present in the meeting, along with representatives of bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Stating that the venue and the number of Industrialists attending the meet, along with the name of the event, are yet to be fixed Mr Tamang maintained that they will shortly sit for a meeting with the state government and fix the finer details.